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Education and Empire 



An Address Delivered by the President of the Association 

of American Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges 

and Experiment Stations, 



JAMES K. PATTERSON, Ph. D., LL. D., 

President of the State College of Kentucky. 




Washington, D. C, 
Nov. 17, 1903. 



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X 



PRESIDENT PATTERSON'S ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen of the Association of 
Agricultural Colleges and Experiment 
Stations: 

I thank you for the honor which 
you have conferred upon me in select- 
ing me to preside over your delibera- 
tions during the present session. 

The highest distinction within the 
power of this body to bestow is not 
to be lightly esteemed and I can only 
wish that I had been more worthy of 
it. 

I propose to occupy your attention 
tonight for a brief space by some 
thoughts on the work of the Colleges^ 
and Universities which this Associa- 
tion represents, and the influence 
thereof upon the present and future 
of the American people. 

Many men distinguished by learning 
and experience have in years gone by 
addressed you from this chair. Some 
having sown the seed which others in 
due time will reap, have already pass« 
ed over to the majority; others hap- 
pily are still with us to animate by 
their zeal, encourage by their exam- 
ple and stimulate by their attain- 
ments. 

Like the pioneers of freedom in the 
western world; like the founders of 
the great republic; like the statesmen 
who laid the foundation of the sys- 
tem of education which this associa- 
tion represents today — ^these men 
have builded wiser than they knew 
and results which they could not 
have anticipated have followed. 

Not visionary doctrinnaires, but 
practical men, they addressed them- 
selves to use to the best advantage 



the material ready to their hands 
and as new material accumulated in- 
corporated it with the structure as it 
grew — maintaining the original idea 
of utility and preserving the archi- 
tectural symmetry of the fundamental 
conception. 

The organization of this associa- 
tion was a happy thought. These an- 
nual meetings have brought together 
a body of workers and of thinkers, 
whose thoughts and achievements 
contributed to a common stock, have 
become the common heritage of all. 
Happy intuitions, intelligent, scientific 
forecasts have been patiently experi- 
mented upon, translated from the hy- 
pothetical into the actual — accepted 
as accredited results and added per- 
manently to the stock of human 
knowledge. 

Of some the relationship became 
immediately apparent. They gravi- 
tated at once into position; discover- 
ed their proper place in the order of 
things — filled a space hitherto unoc- 
cupied, bridged over a hia.tus, supplied 
a missing link. 

Others did not immediately yield to 
classification and possible affinities 
required further investigation. But 
assailed from this side and from 
that in the crucible and by the spec- 
troscope a stubborn isolation could 
not long be maintained and in the end 
the most refractory yielded to the 
analytic of the human Intellect and 
the potency of the human will. 

But how greatly have these activi- 
ties been stimulated by mutual con- 
ference and mutual cooperation — a 
hint in discussion has struck a spark 



(4) 



which ignited the fuel into a flame; a 
bow drawn at a venture has found 
a joint in the harness and penetrated 
the vitals of an unsubdued fact; a 
stray seeed dropped into a generous 
soil has under the influence of sun- 
shine and rain sprung up and in due 
time brought forth fruit — flrst the 
blade, then the ear and at length the 
full corn in the ear. 

Alittle over forty years ago a new 
departure took place in education in 
America; until then classics, litera- 
ture and philosophy had been the 
dominant features of college work 
The natural sciences were still in 
their infancy; scientiflc men had, 
however, for more than half a century 
been working along scentiflc lines; 
a priori deduction had given place to 
induction founded upon observation 
and experiment. The atomic the- 
ory of Dalton; the correlation ot 
physical forces worked out laborious- 
ly and brilliantly by Helmholtz, Joule 
and Tyndal; the uniformitarian hy- 
pothesis of Sir Charles Lyell; the 
spectroscopic analysis of Kirschofi 
and above all the far-reaching gener- 
alizations of Darwin and Wallace had 
made a new epoch in scientiflc dis- 
covery. It recalled the spirit of ad- 
venture which roused into feverish ac- 
tivity the boundless energy and hero- 
ic endurance of Henry the Navigator, 
Vascoda Grama, Christofer Colombo 
and Alphonse Albuquerque four cen- 
turies before. A new world of id^is 
seemed to dawn upon mankind with 
the introduction of the telegraph, ot 
railway construction, of steam naviga- 
tion and the application of scence to 
the industrial arts. The age of the 



Utopia of Sir Thomas More and of the 
new Atlantis of Bacon divested of 
fantasy and clothed in the habiliments 
of decorous sobriety, seemed to have 
dawned upon mankind. 

The stimulus given to immigration 
brought hundreds of thousands annu- 
ally to our shores and the impulse 
given to transcontinental migration, 
through the development of the rail- 
way system east of the Mississippi 
transferred hundreds of thousands 
annually from the Atlantic and mid- 
dle states to the fertile lands stretch- 
ed out in forest and prairie, ready to 
receive and reward the hardy and in- 
dustrious pioneer with comfort and 
plenty. The rich gold fields of the 
"West, acquired by conquest and pur- 
chase; the annexation of the great 
empire of the Lone Star State; the 
boundless domain between the Missis- 
sippi and the Rockies — inviting capi- 
tal and enterprise for pasturage and 
cultivation; all contributed to develop 
a feeling of unrest and a longing for 
better things. The long pent-up ener^ 
gies of a young, vigorous, self-reliant 
people broke beyond the geographical 
limits which had hitherto bounded 
their labors and rewards and swept a 
living tide of humanity over hill and 
valley, over mountain and plain, be- 
yond lake and river into the illimita- 
ble lands of the near and middle and 
far West — from the Alleghanies to 
the Mississippi and Missouri; from 
the Mississippi and Missouri to the 
great Amercan desert, the Rocky 
Mountains and the shores of the Pa- 
cific ocean. And thus the wave of 
settlement, adjusting itself to peace- 
ful industry laid the foundations of 



(5) 



new states, planted new industries, 
brought vast stretches of hitherto un- 
productive lands under cultivation; 
opened up the treasures of the mine; 
multiplied the lines of communication 
and poured the agricultural and min- 
eral wealth of the great west into the 
commerce of the world. Concurrent- 
ly with these recent economic changes 
resulting from the operation of natu- 
ral causes economic changes of equal 
magnitude were brought about 
through fiscal legislation at home and 
, abroad. T The establishment of free 
'trade in Great Britain opened the 
markets of that country to American 
agricultural products, stimulating to 
an unwonted degree production at 
homeland correspondingly depressing 
agriculture in the British Isles. 
American wheat and corn monopo- 
lized the supply of breadstuffs to the 
British artisan, building up and con- 
trolling a market into which no other 
competitors could enter on equal 
terms. ) ' Concurrently therewith the 
protetctionist policy adopted by the 
United States not only rendered this 
country independent of foreign sup- 
plies, but enabled her in the end to 
become in many of the chief products 
of the mine, the forge, and the 
loom a formidable competitor for the 
chief part of the commerce of the 
world. Under these conditions, vague- 
ly apprehended by the majority, but 
apprehended with more or less clear- 
ness of vision by a few of the far- 
sighted statesmen of the country, the 
Morrill law of 1862 was passed by the 
Congress of the United States. 

The demand for a system of educa- 
tion adapted to the needs of the time, 
which should go beyond the require- 



ments for classics, law, medicine, di- 
vinity and letters; an education which 
without proscribing or neglecting clas- 
sical and philosophical studies, should 
utilize for the public good the known 
and discoverable laws and processes of 
nature, for the increase of production 
and the multiplication of the comforts 
and necessities of life. This demand 
the Morrill law was intended to satis- 
fy, and upon this foundation more 
than fifty state colleges and universi- 
ties are established. 

Mr. Morrill saw that in the rapid 
alienation of the public lands through 
settlement and gratuitous allotment 
to railway corporations the public do- 
main was rapidly being exhausted. 
He accordingly determined to dedi- 
cate a part of this rapidly diminishing 
public domain to the education of the 
American people, along new lines and 
according to the necessities imposed 
by geographical and economic condi- 
tions peculiar to the western hemis- 
phere. He provided that land script 
should be given to the several states 
in proportion to population for the en- 
dowment of institutions of learning, 
wherein should be taught those 
branches of learning related to agri- 
culture and the mechanic arts, with- 
out excluding classical and other sci- 
entific studies, and including military 
tactics, for the education of the in- 
dustrial classes in the several pur- 
suits and professions of life. This 
was a radical departure from the old 
idea of education. It was a concep- 
tion of University work such as had 
never yet been thought out by any 
tninker and whose realization had 
never yet been attempted. The exist- 
ing body of human knowledge, wheth- 



(6) 



er of mind or of matter, hypothetically 
assumed or actually realized, was to 
be available for appropriation by the 
learner; and the far greater domain 
of nature, unknown or partially 
known, invited the investigator 
through observation and experiment 
to new fields of discovery. The old 
institutions looked doubtfully and not 
quite sympathetically on the new ed- 
ucation. They gravely shook their 
heads at the credulity of those who 
thought that investigation in those 
branches of science relating to agri- 
culture and the mechanic arts could 
be carried beyond the merest rudi- 
ments or would be productive of re- 
sults at all commensurate with the 
expenditure of time and money pro- 
posed. But when within a few years 
they saw an interpretation given to 
the legislation of Mr. Morrill which 
did not confine Mechanic Arts to 
blacksmithing, carpentry and kindred 
handicrafts — which went beyond the 
still more advanced conception ot 
manual training and discovered its ul- 
timate application in Engineering — 
Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Sanitary 
and Mining; when they saw as pre- 
liminary and preparatory to these ex- 
tended courses in Mathematics, Chem- 
istry and Physics, reaching far above 
and beyond those in the older Colleges 
and Universities they began to show 
more consideration for the new and 
to ask "Can any good thing come out 
of Nazareth?" When, moreover, they 
saw that the foundations of a Science 
of Agriculture were being laid in ex- 
tended courses of Botany, Compara- 
tive Anatomy and Physiology, Biolo- 
gy, Chemistry, Entomology — that 
through these, barren fields were made 



fertile the products of animal and 
vegetable industry improved in quali- 
ty, multiplied in quantity and in- 
creased manifold in commercial value, 
the exclusiveness of the old tacitly ac- 
quiesced in a modified recognition of 
the new. Silently, steadily, resist- 
lessly the new has moved on regard- 
less of the contempt, the pity and 
tolerance of the old. Ere long the 
new institutions, retaining for the 
most part tne classics and the philos- 
ophies of the old, established Chemic» 
al. Physical, Biological and Engineer- 
ing laboratories on a scale of ex- 
penditure and completeness far be- 
yond the resources of the old; they 
set the pace for scientific study and 
investigation in America. By their 
bold experiments and stupendous re< 
suits they startled the old institu- 
tions out of their complacent lethargy 
and roused them to an activity hith- 
erto unknown. They made it mani- 
fest that classical and philosophical 
attainments and dicipline could exist 
side by side with thorough training 
and far reaching acquirements in 
Natural Science and that these latter 
found an application in the develop- 
ment of Agriculture and Manufactur- 
ing industry out of all proportion to 
the original conception on which the 
legslation of 1862 was based. 

A few of the older Universities — 
originally denominational but long 
since secularized — Yale, Harvard, 
Princeton, Columbia, with prestige 
large endowments and wealthy alum- 
ni, who have contributed freely to en- 
large the sphere of their capability 
and activity; and a few recently foun- 
ded and endowed by individual mu- 
nificence on a scale of unprecedented 



(7 

liberality — Johns Hopkins, Leland 
Stanford and Chicago University 
stand well to the front and maintain 
each a staff of workers in the field of 
investigation who are the peers of any 
in the land. Most of the others, es- 
pecially those which are dependent 
upon denominational support have 
fallen hopelessly to the rear. The 
Colleges and Universities established 
under the Congressional act of 1862, 
whose areas of activity were enlarged 
by the supplementary legislation of 
loS7 and 1890 have grown so rapidly 
that they are now recognized in most 
of the states as the chief exponents 
of the higher education coupled with 
the practical education which finds ex- 
pression in ever multiplying bushels 
of wheat and bales of cotton and 
tons of steel — an education which con- 
ditions and renders possible the su- 
premacy of America in productive ac- 
tivity and commercial enterprises. 
But our scientific achievements and 
their translation into material wealth 
must not be content with these tri- 
umphs. The last forty years — a peri- 
od coincident with the life of these in- 
stitutions — have witnessed an increase 
in population and in wealth such as 
the dreams of the most sanguine could 
not have ventured to anticipate. No 
parallel for it exists either in ancient 
or modern history, either in the old 
world or the new; and the actually 
realized power and wealth of the na- 
tion are but the beginning of greater 
and mightier things yet to be. With- 
in another half century our population 
will have quadrupled; our wealth in- 
creased in more than corresponding 
proportion, and our strength on land 
and sea such that no power or com- 



bination of powers will be able to 
gainsay or resist. In this mighty on- 
ward march the State Colleges and 
Universities will lead the van. But 
they must do more than point the way 
which leads to material wealth and 
dominion. Problems relating to mind 
and matter of surpassing interest to 
mankind are pressing for solution 
and to their solution the scientists and 
laboratories of these Colleges and Uni- 
versiites must contribute an adequate 
if not a preponderant share. 

I have seen it stated that the theo- 
ry set forth in Prof. Osborne Rey- 
nolds' "Sub Mechanics of the Uni- 
verse" "that not a flawless continuous 
ether, but a granular structure of the 
spaces of the universe that not only 
explains all observed phenomena and 
the cause of gravitation but reveals 
the prime cause of the physical prop- 
erties of matter" finds for the present 
one of its chief facts of interest in the 
fact that few if any of living mathe^ 
maticians are capable of following' 
his demonstrations and nono are 
strong enough to attack it. Sir Wil- 
liam Crookes, in an address to the 
International Congress for Applied 
Chemistry at Berlin, June 4th of this 
year, said that chemists now admitted 
"the possibility of resolving the chem^ 
ical elements into simpler forms of 
matter or even of refining them 
away altogether into etheral vibra- 
tions of electrical energy." He fur- 
ther declared that "a number of iso 
lated hypotheses as to the existence 
of matter in an ultra-gaseous state, 
the existence of material particles 
smaller than atoms, the existence of 
electrical ions or electrons, the con- 
stitution of Rontgen rays and their 



(8) 



passage through opaque bodies, the 
emanations from Uranium and the 
dissociation of the elements were 
now welded into one harmonious the- 
ory by the discovery of Radium." He 
added that if the hypothesis of the 
electronic constitution of matter were 
pushed to its logical limit it is possl' 
ble that we are now witnessing the 
spontaneous dissociation of Radium 
and if so must begin to doubt the per- 
manent stability of matter." If this 
be so the "formless mist" must once 
more reign supreme and the vislbl© 
universe dissolve. 

Sir Oliver Lodge in the Romanes 
Lecture delivered at Oxford on the 
14th of June, suggested that atoms of 
matter are actually composed of con- 
centrated portions of electricity which 
could exist separately or in associa- 
tion. Seven hundred such electrons 
inviolent orbital motion among them- 
selves would constitute an atom ot 
hydrogen; 11200 electrons would form 
an atom of oxygen and 150,000 an 
atom of Radium. We have on this 
theory arrived at the ultimate chem- 
ical particle, various combinations of 
which form all the infinitely diverse 
aspects of matter. Sir Oliver observes 
that "the attraction of this hypothesis 
is that it represents a unification of 
matter and a reduction of all materi- 
al substance to a purely electrical 
phenomenon." This electrical theory 
of matter involves two consequences, 
a continual increase In the velocity 
of the constituents of an atom and 
the ultimate instability of those con- 
stituents. There is thus a state of flux 
and decay "in the foundation stones 
of the universe, the elemental atoms 



themselves." Sir Oliver thinks, how- 
ever, that there is at the same time a 
system of reaggregation at work 
which constitutes a sort of regenera- 
tive process which will preserve the 
universe by the creation of new forms 
of matter in the place of forms that 
have been dissolved. If these things 
be so it can no longer be said "that 
the ultimate details of atomic consti- 
tution are beyond our scrutiny." But 
granted that these details are known 
the mysteries of the universe are still 
unsolved. What is the nature of elec- 
tric phenomena? What are those 
things which can evolve out of struc- 
tureless simplicity the infinite com- 
plexities of the earth and heaven? 
Does a directive force — intelligent and 
eternal become the necessary postu- 
late for a rational conception of the 
universe? Are we warranted in con- 
cluding with Tennyson that 

"Only that which made us meant us 
to be mightier by and by 

Set the sphere of all the boundless 
heavens within the human eye; 

Sent the shadow of Himself, the 
boundless, through the human soul 

Boundless, inward in the atom, bound- 
less outward in the whole." 

We are manifestly on the thresh- 
hold of mighty discoveries. What 
part will the American intellect play 
in the investigation and solution of 
these problems? What part will the 
Colleges and Universities of this asso- 
ciation play in the unfolding of this 
stupendous drama? In the laboratory 
of the chemist and the physicist the 
work must be done. To this end we 
need skilful workers, clear thinkers, 
prophetic men with trained intellects 



(9) 



and scientific imaginations. To this 
end we need special endowments; but 
special endowment for research means 
large expenditure for the best materi- 
al facilities which ingenuity can de- 
vise and skilled workmanship can 
construct. It means also highly disci- 
plined and trained investigators whose 
time is not occupied with the drudgery 
of instruction but which is devoted 
entirely to original work. These con- 
ditions necessarily imply large expen- 
ditures and the means for this must 
be obtained from the liberality of the 
nation and from the generosity of indi- 
viduals. We must encourage the 
study of higher mathematics in order 
to develop men who snail be able to 
follow and interpret the mathematics 
on which the theory of the "Sub-Me- 
chanics of the Universe" rests. We 
must create in our laboratories the 
Curies and the Kelvins and the 
L/rookes and the Clark-Maxwells, the 
Rutherfords and Bancrofts and Os- 
walds who shall grapple with and it 
possible solve the mysteries of the 
physical universe. This, I trust, will 
fall largely to the lot of the Colleges 
and Universities which we represent 
today. Let us hope that from their 
halls shall issue the honored few; 
from their ranks shall arise the he- 
roes of science who in the achieve- 
ments of these last and greatest re- 
sults shall be welcomed to join the 
ranks of the immortals. 

With the accession of the Tudors in 
lt65 the influence of England in con- 
tinental affairs had materially dimin- 
ished. The days of Crecy and Poitiers 
and Agincourt with the passing of En- 
gland's heroes — the Black Prince and 
Henry V. had also passed away. The 



Treaty of Pecquini had left England 
none of her continental possessions 
except Calais and this too, was to 
pass to the House of Valois before 
Tudors ceased to reign. The ascen- 
dency of Spain was unquestioned. 
Even after the abdication of Charles 
V. the Spanish monarchy was the 
most powerful in the world. The vast 
over-sea possessions which that mon» 
arch had inherited from Ferdinand 
and Isabella he transmitted, enlarged 
and consolidated to his son Philip. 
But the growing sea-'power of Eng- 
land after the accession of Elizabeth 
was destined ere the close of the 
century to give the Spanish power a 
fatal blow. The defeat of the Armada 
sealed the fate of the Spanish suprem- 
acy and proved that something more 
than prestige and gold was needful 
on which to build national power and 
national prosperity. From 1588 the 
star of Spanish dominion gradually 
declined and the scepter was by de- 
grees transferred to mightier hands. 
England followed close upon the track 
of discovery, but more than a century 
passed before any permanent settle- 
ment was made by her in the new 
world. Though she entered later on 
the race of transatlantic adventure 
than either Spain or France, yet she 
was destined to outstrip all her com« 
petitors in colonial dominion. The 
colonies founded during the reign of 
the successor of hte Great Tudor 
Queen were established by men not 
impelled by the lust of gold but by 
men who sought political freedom and 
liberty to worship God according to 
their conscience. They carried with 
them love of home, reverence for law, 
a deep sense of the inalienable rights 



(lO) 



of man and the conviction that in 
their veins flowed the blood of Al- 
fred and of the Barons who extorted 
the Magna Charta from King John on 
the field of Runnymede; and here, 
with these convictions and these tra- 
j ditions they laid the foundations of 

j what in the immediate future will be 
the mightiest nation which the world 
has ever seen. The Revolution of 
1776 broke the political bonds which 
united the original colonies to the 
mother country; but it did not break 

i the bonds of blood, of inherited tra- 
ditions, and of the glory which at- 
tached to the common inheritance. 
All the glorious ideals of the race have 
quickened, enlarged and intensified; 
and have found realization to a de- 
gree which could never have been at- 
tained within the narrow limits of 
the original home in the old world. 

, The immemorial heritageof freedom, 

I brought by Angle and Jute and Saxon 
from the banks of the Saale to those 
of the Thames and the Humber and 
the Dee, and after ages of growth 
within the British isles transplanted 
to ampler fields in America has found 
its ultimate development in the great 
nation of whose origin and history we 

f are all proud today, xuid it may sure- 
ly be a source of legitimate pride to 
the mohter country "that the great 
empire which neither the ambition ot 
Louis XIV nor the conquering power 
of Napoleon could dismember, receiv- 
ed its first rude shock from the cour- 
age which she had communicated to 
her emancipated offspring and that 
I amid transatlantic wilds grew up a 
race of men who have established 
real liberty" on the principles which 



they inherited from ancestors who / 
were the countrymen and compatriots 
of Bacon and Sidney, of Hampden / 
and Oliver Cromwell. 

The last trace of Spanish domin- 
ion on the American continent was 
obliterated four years ago by the de- 
cendants of men who harried and 
plundered the Spanish main in tlie 
days of Drake and Effingham, of 
Frobisher and Sir John Hawkins. The 
one then as now represented the Lat« 
in race with its spasmodic activity 
and ephemeral ideals; the other the 
sturdy Anglo-Saxon stock with its 
sturdy perseverance, its unflagging 
energy, its uncompromising love of 
freedom and its corresponding hatred 
of oppression. I' And this Anglo-Saxon 
stock by its inherent vigor and its in> 
telligent foresight and its undaunted 
spirit of enterprise is the coming race 
in whose hands lie the destinies of 
civilization. In its veins the sap 
swells high today and it will swell 
high tomorrow. j 

The future of mankind lies not 
with the Mercurial Latin-Celtic race, 
nor with the crafty Mongol, nor with / 
the perfidous Slav, but with the self 
reliant, freedom loving, God fearing 
men who preferred exile and poverty 
to affluent, inglorious, conformity; 
and who emancipating themselves 
from the idols of the cave and the 
idols of ine market buckled on their 
freed spirits the harness of mind. 

In the United States of today even 
the busiest and most actively employ- 
ed in the intervals of leisure stop to 
enquire whence they came, what they 
are and whither they tend. The ap- 
prehension has bpon felt and express- 



(II) 



ed that we are too much given up to 
the acquisition of wealth, too mate- 
rial, that we care nothing for the 
past, are absorbed in the cares of the 
present and clothe the future in the 
draping of tne accumulated gain 
built upon the foundations which we 
have laid. The hundreds have grown 
into the thousands, the thousands in- 
to millions; we look to a future when 
the latter shall have expanded into 
billions and then the golden age in 
another sense than that of the an- 
cients will have superceded and sup- 
planted all others and wealth, not 
brains, will rule mankind. But wealth 
in the second generation if not in the 
first looks anxiously for a background 
of respectability. This is a whole- 
some feeling and a healthy indication. 
The v/ealthy long for something more 
than mere wealth to differentiate them 
from the masses. Energy and capac- 
ity and ability to accumulate wealth 
were indispensable but these must 
have had an antecedent existence in 
the family. Heredity and atavism 
are assumed as the necessary condi- 
tions and these are sought for in fam- 
ily history. Family traditions, fami- 
ly records, title deeds, names and sur- 
names, on this side of the Atlantic and 
on the other are eagerly examined, 
studied, collated, and translated into 
genealogies embodied in family trees 
with all the accessories of crests, 
mottoes, armorial bearings and coats 
of arms. These ideas are not incom- 
patible with Republicanism. The 
Washingtons and Jeffersons and Ad- 
amses and Winthrops of colonial 
times were proud of their title deeds 
and genealogies and descent from 
the gentry and gentlemen and nobili- 



ty of the mother country. Not only 
the leaders in the American revolt of 
1776 were gentlemen and the sons of 
gentlemen, but most of the non com- 
missioned officers and men were of 
reputable English and Scotch and 
Irish descent. Gentlemen fought 
and won in the Revolutionary con- 
test. In no subsequent war in which 
the United otates has been engaged 
did the armies of the republic contain 
so large a proportion of gentlemen. 
What then is calieu the modern craze 
for genealogy is a healthy conserva^ 
tive mental condition an effort to dis- 
cover and if not to discover to make 
a place in the annals of recorded or 
unrecorded gentility. Fortunately the 
original contributory elements which 
make up the history of the Great Re- 
public are not so difficult to discover. 
The early history of Puritan Pilgrim 
and Cavalier is well known. The po- 
litico-religious ferment which led to 
the emigration of the one and the 
spirit of adventure which led to the 
voluntary expatiation of the other are 
matters of history. 

Other contributory elements from 
Germany and Scandanavia and cen- 
tral and eastern Europe have swelled 
the population of this newer and 
mightier England which occupies the 
best half of the North American con- 
tinent, but the basis, the back-bone, 
the brain of the country remains and 
will remain Anglo-Saxon. Our history 
thus finds its roots in the history of 
the people of the old world and pre- 
eminently In that of middle England-, 
which stands mid-way between the 
Saxon of the Saale and the Saxon of 
America. Through our relations with 
them Robert Bruce and Bannockbum 



(12) 



are ours; Hastings and Runnymede, 
Evesham and Crecy, Bosworthfleld 
and Marston Moor.Blenheim and Cul- 
loden. Through them we inherit the 
glory of an inalienable birthright in 
the common law, in the growth of 
parliamentary government, in the re- 
formation of Knox and the martydom 
of Latimer and Ridley. Through them 
we claim an equal inheritance in 
Wickliffe and Bacon and Shakespeare 
in Newton and Boyle and Harvey; in 
Burleigh and Halifax and Chatham — 
while we allow them to share the 
greatness of those who are peculiarly 
our own, Franklin and Washington 
and Longfellow, Andrew Jackson and 
Abraham Lincoln. 

Now inasmuch as the students in 
our Colleges and Universities are or 
should be educated not as scholars 
and scientists only, but as citizens 
who will be concerned in shaping the 
destinies of the greatest people 
whom the world has ever seen, it is 
not less incumbent that adequate pro- 
vision be made for the attainment of 
the one end equally with the other. 
The State University must be what 
Ezra oornwell in founding the Uni- 
versity which bears his name wanted 
it to become, viz: a place where every- 
thing could be taught which it is pos- 
sible to teach, and where everything 
could be learned which it is possible 
for one to know. 

I would urge then, with all the in- 
sistence which I may, the necessity 
that history and political philosophy 
with all their correlated subjects 
should become a special feature of 
the University and Collegiate in- 
struction which we represent. In 



many they are already distinctive fea- 
tures. They should be made distinc- 
tive and obligatory in all. 

Within the last 200 years history 
has been made rapidly in America, 
ii'or a time almost isolated from con- 
tact Willi European nationalities and 
in touch with the old world mainly 
through official relationship, polit- 
ical life developed without interfer- 
ence from abroad. The theory of the 
New England Commonwealth gradu- 
ally became more political and less 
theological; the limits imposed upon 
religious freedom gradually relaxed 
and political freedom became more 
unrestrained. They were law-abid- 
ing but the laws to which they sub- 
jected themselves were of their own 
making. So strong, however, was the 
traditional respect for law and order 
and so conservative were they when 
least restrained by external authori- 
tythat their legislation never tended 
to sap the fountains of the Common* 
wealth nor impair the obligations 
of contract. Legislation was general- 
ly along the lines of precedent, fol- 
lowing the recognized principles of 
the Common Law and adhering close- 
ly to the rights and duties laid down 
in the great charter of English free- 
dom. When under new conditions 
new legislation was needed for 
which no precedent existed, known 
to the law-makers, the ample shield 
of the spirit of the Common Law 
and of Magna Charta was invoked to 
cover them. So in the interpretation 
of the law by the judge on the bench, 
if statute law did not exist to meet 
the cause in action, the Common Law 
was so interpreted as to apply and 



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the spirit of jurisprudence came to 
the relief of the dispenser of justice. 
And this was exactly what happened 
hundreds of years before in Wessex 
and Kent and East Anglia and Mercia 
and Northumbria. The principles of 
law and equity had grown up silently 
in the community enlarging in their 
applications as new conditions arose 
and became imbedded in the hearts ot 
Englishmen ages before they found 
articulate expression in the laws of 
Ina and Offa, Alfred and Ethelred; 
ages before the charters of John and 
Henry and Edward placed the seal 
forever on the recognized and inalien- 
able rights of Englishmen. This spir- 
it and these traditions they brought 
with them to the new world. England 
alone of all the world could supply 
such colonists and England alone of 
all the world could continue without 
exhaustion the work of colonization 
on such a scale as to assure ultimate 
success. The puritans of the North 
and the Cavaliers of the South, rein- 
forced in later times by the sturdy 
Scot from the Lowlands and the 
Highlands and later on by the equal- 
ly hardy Scots of Ulster formed the 
basis of American nationality and a 
nobler ancestry the world has never 
seen. The characteristics of the 
first settlers remain the predominant 
characteristics of the typical Ameri- 
can of today, and however affected 
by subsequent infusions from conti- 
nental sources remains in large meas- 
ure unmodified. This propotency of 
race and of blood is manifest in every 
phase of the history of the American 
people. Only people of Anglo-Saxon 
blood, Anglo-Saxon endurance, and 
Anglo-Saxon devotion to freedom 



could have maintained and carried 
the struggle for independence to a 
successful issue against the power of 
the mother country. Only people of 
Anglo-Saxon blood could have main- 
ed and successfully concluded the 
seconu trial of strength with the might 
of the British Empire in the war of 
1812. Only the descendants of this 
heroic stock could have routed the 
armies of Mexico and planted the 
stars and stripes upon the ramparts 
of Chapultepec and Churubusco and 
in that terrific contest fought out for- 
ty years ago for the maintenance of 
the integrity of the Republic, when 
armies larger than those engaged at 
Marengo, Wagram, Austerlitz, Jena 
or Waterloo met each other on the 
field of battle, the men on both sides 
who led them to victory or defeat, 
and the men who followed them were 
in the main the descendents of the' 
pioneers whose ancestors had lived 
for thirty generations within the four 
seas of Britain. Lee and Jackson and 
Stuart and Hampton and Gordon, Mc- 
Clellan and Grant and Sheridan and 
Sherman and Thomas are as thor- 
oughly British names as Cromwell 
and Marlborough and Wolf and Well- 
ington. With this people, its noble 
ancestry, its inspiring traditions, its 
stupendous achievements and its glo- 
rious history, I would have the most 
ample provisions made in every in- 
stitution in this Association for its 
students to become acquainted. The 
educated American should know the 
history of his own people in itself 
and in its relations. We go back be- 
yond 1776, beyond 1620 and 1607. The 
roots of our being are Identical with 
those of the patriots who worked out 



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patiently and laboriously for 600 
years the problems of parliamentary 
government, of the relation of the 
subject to the state, of taxation to 
representation, of the coordination ot 
liberty and authority. English his- 
tory before 1776 belongs as much to 
Americans as to Englishmen, and 
American institutions are unintelligi- 
ble if dissevered from their rational 
relationship. The American constitu- 
tion without the prior existence of 
Magna Charta, Habeas Corpus and 
the Bill of Rights would have been 
impossible. 

When Lord Beaconsfield returned 
from the Congress of Berlin he gave 
utterance to a felicitous expression 
which roused to an intense self con- 
sciousness the hearts of the British 
people. "Libertas et Imperium'" 
struck a note which vibrated through 
the British Isles. They felt that they 
had achieved Empire through free- 
dom. I would strike a kindred note 
here today. I would have this Asso- 
ciation adopt the motto: "Education 
and Empire." Freedom we have. 
Freedom forms the basis of our na- 
tional existence, the air which it 
breaths, the inspiration of the life 
which it lives. But the inspiration 
and the vitality of freedom and of 
Empire must henceforth be intelli- 
gence, developed, strengthened, exalt- 
ed, purified. 

Not long since a conference of al- 
lied colonial universities was held in 
London. There were present men 
like Lord Kelvin and the leader of 
the House of Commons, eminent rep- 
resentatives of learning and science, 
men high in authority in the old uni- 



versities of the mother country and 
men of distinction in the more recent- 
ly established universities of the 
King's over sea dominions. Mr. Bal- 
four announced the object of the 
meeting to be "An alliance of all the 
universities that in an increasing 
measure are feeling their responsibili- 
ties not merely for training the youth 
which is destined to carry on the tra- 
ditions of the British Empire but also 
to further those great interests of 
knowledge, scientific research and 
culture without which no Empire, 
however materially magnificent, can 
really say that it is doing its share in 
the progress of the world." What the 
statesman of the kindred people be- 
yond the Atlantic seek to do we have 
already been doing for years. This 
Federation of Colleges and Universi- 
ties has been addressing itself to real- 
ize the objects set forth in the lan- 
guage just quoted, viz: "the further 
ance of the great interests of knowl- 
edge, scientific research and liberal 
culture without which no Empire, 
however materially magnificent can 
really say that it is doing its share in 
the progress of the world." No such 
federation of educational agencies 
and activities as this association of 
ours has ever been seen. It is the 
first, the greatest, the most far reach- 
ing in its aims and the most success- 
ful in its results. It has long since 
passed beyond the embryonic stage. 
Embracing within its scope all that is 
valuable in the old and incorporating 
it with new ideals it presents to the 
nation and the world a system com- 
plete because all embracing and in- 
spired by the vigor of youth goes on 
conquering and to conquer. 



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"To the solid ground of nature 
trusts the mind which builds for aye." 

American institutions have materi- 
ally influenced the principles of gov« 
ernment in the old world; American 
education is accomplishing a similar 
work in influencing the educational 
system of Europe. Germany has felt 
its power — great though Germany be 
in intellect, in pure science, in dis- 
covery; England frankly acknowl- 
edges her obligations to American 
methods in university training and in 
the application of science to industri- 
al production; Russia in her commer- 
cial exclusiveness pays a reluctant 
tribute to American enterprise through 
her policy of obstruction. All these 
are legitimate sources of an honorable 
pride, and all the more gratifying be- 
cause the Federation of American 
Colleges and Experiment Stations is 
the exponent of the idea. The prece- 
dence which we have won we must 
maintain. Hoc Signo Vinces. State 
and Nation are alike interested in the 
existence and development of the 
units which form this organization; 
and State and Nation will respond 
with equal liberality in order to main- 
tain the most comprehensive, most 
economic, most fruitful educational 
activity which human wisdom ever 
devised. 

From a glorious past, through a 
marvellous present, to an illustrious 
future — the transition is natural and 
easy. If the growth and prosperity 
witnessed within the memory of liv- 
ing persons have been unexampled, it 
is because conditions, intellectual, 
moral, religious, social, material and 
political existed such as never existed 



before. Some of these will continue, 
others will undergo material modifi- 
cation. The intellect, through scien- 
tific discovery and liberal culture will 
probably become more keen and more 
intense in its activity. Social condi- 
tions and relations will change as 
they are changing now. The rich will 
become relatively richer and the poor 
perhaps poorer. A greater mastery 
will be obtained over the powers of 
nature, subordinating them to human 
control and to human utility. The 
visible embodiments of the collective 
will in civil government , executive, 
legislative and judicial will be deter- 
mined by the moral and religious 
ideas and convictions which prevail. 
If there be wholesome, vital, intense 
and strong social and political con- 
victions, the relation of the individual 
to the community, of the citizen to the 
State will be determined by honest 
and rational means for the attainment 
of high and honorable ends. Upon 
the moral and religious life of the fu- 
ture will depend the future greatness 
of the great republic. The vigorous 
beliefs in which the fathers and the 
mothers of the olden times were 
brought up have without doubt chang- 
ed. Is it for the better or for the 
worse? Let us hope that human 
elements only have been elimina- 
ted and all that is divine is 
retained; that the dross and the tin 
have been purged and that the gold 
remains. But somehow the shadow of 
a doubt sometimes crosses the mind 
that not the form but the essence has 
changed, that: 

"Now there are new religions, many 
the codes and the creeds 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



illlllllil<...l. 

002 782 879 6 



(i6) 



Many the quibbling changes to fit 

with our fanciful needs 
All of tiiem waxing milder; waning 

in strength and tone 
None of them stern and sturdy; none 

of them stand alone 
None like the old religions — those 

that the fathers made 
Built on the fearless basis — the God 

of the unafraid." 

The moral and religious tone of the 
country upon which the greatness of 
the nation will depend will be influ- 
enced largely by the moral and reli- 
gious tone which pervades the Col- 
leges and universities which compose 
this Association. Let us see to it thai 
the Grod of our fathers — reliance upon 
whom carried them through the 
throes and perils of the birth of the 
Nation is not forgotten; let us see 
that "the Divinity that shapes our 
ends rough hew them how we may" 
is still recognized and reverenced — 
conscious that amid human affairs 
there is a power that works for prog- 
pess and for righteousness and that 
the great lesson of all history, spec- 
ially emphasized and exemplified in 
our own is the realizing of the divine 
in the human; of the infinite in the 
finite; of the eternal in the temporal; 
that, 

"Not in vain the Nation strivings 
Nor by chance the currents flow 
Error mazed yet truth directed 
To their destined goal they go." 

We can picture to ourselves ere 
the close of this century a nation of 
seven hundred millions of people. 
Christian, peaceful, rich and happy — 



with realized industrial, agricultural 
and commercial wealth, tenfold that 
of the present, with a predominent in- 
fluence in the councils of the world,, 
with a fiscal system light in its bur- 
dens, with income balancing expen« 
diture, with laws just and equitably 
administered, with ignorance banish- 
ed, crime restrained and pauperism 
non-existant; with the relations of 
wealth and labor rightfully adjusted, 
and above all with a deep and per- 
vading sense of the fatherhood of 
God and the brotherhood of man. 
We can fancy these Colleges and 
Universities with endowments count- 
ed by millions and students by thou- 
sands — recognized as the prime fac- 
tors in individual and national wealth 
and greatness. Venerable abodes of 
learning diffusing through their sons 
and daughters an enlightenment and 
culture pervaded by a deep religious 
sense, enlightened by science and a 
science leavened and glorified by re- 
ligion. We can think of them as the 
depositories of discovered truth 
whence the pilgrims of every kindred 
and clime recruit their stores for the 
enlightenment of mankind; as bea- 
cons whose illuminating beams irra- 
diate every continent and transcend 
every sea. Then shall we realize the 
vision of the Hebrew Prophet, "Who 
are these that fly as a cloud and as 
doves to their windows; their sons 
shall come from afar and their 
daughters be nursed at thy side and 
I will make the place of my feet glo- 
rious." 

Happy land, happy people, yea hap- 
py is that people whose God is the 
Lord. 



